By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Every pit stop in the closing laps was critical in deciding the winner Saturday night at Richmond Raceway. And it came down to Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe.
It was Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that was leading the field with 40 laps to go and Logano tracking him down. And when Logano overtook Briscoe, the two immediately jumped to pit road for the “money stop” to decide the leader for the final run.
Logano beat Briscoe off pit road and held him off for the victory.
Briscoe was left with regrets after losing the lead prior to the final stop.
“Before that final pit stop, I started losing brakes, I got really loose,” Briscoe said. “And I gave up a three-second lead. If I could have had any buffer at all I felt like I would have won the race.
“I was definitely better than him on that final run. I just gave up way too much time that one run and that was ultimately the difference maker.”
Leading a race-high 171 laps, Briscoe’s only threat came from the Team Penske stable. The Ford organization put Logano in Victory Lane, Austin Cindric in third, while polesitter Ryan Blaney fell to 13th.
“I thought I was in a Penske sandwich there for much of the race,” he said. “I knew the Penske cars were gonna be really, really good all night long. It’s typical late-summer Joey Logano just coming up out of nowhere.
“Joey’s car was odd, he had two runs where he was phenomenal and then the rest, he was the same as all of us. It’s rough to be that fast and not get it done.
“You just have to be perfect for 400 laps.”
Though missing out on the win, Briscoe ran a career-day at Richmond. Prior to Saturday, he had never led a lap or scored a top-10 finish in nine Richmond starts.
“[Richmond] has been a huge struggle for me,” he said. “Just to be competitive and race with guys that I watched win races and battle up front, that was a huge confidence booster.
“We’ve been scoring a lot of stage points, finishing well and finally executing well. I had great pit stops, I started up front today. I feel like we’re in championship form, for sure. We just still want to win races and that’s going to be a huge difference maker once you get in the Chase.”